The Hoyas welcomed Bucknell to Multi-Sport Field for a Patriot League matchup on Saturday, Oct. 24 for Homecoming.

Recruits: (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) Prince William County, Fauquier County
National: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida
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Luke Thompson begins his third season as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, after rejoining the coaching staff as the Hoyas’ in March 2014. Thompson spent the 2012 and 2013 on the coaching staff at Army, before returning to the Hilltop, where he coached linebackers and special teams from 2006-2011.

In 2015, Thompson helped LB Matt Satchell earn All-Patriot League First Team honors, while posting 100 tackles during his senior campaign. Satchell and fellow linebackers Leo Loughrey and Dan Yankovich finished among the PL leaders in tackles. The defense was tops in the PL, limiting opponents to a 3rd down conversion rate of 36.2 and limiting opponents to just 20.2 first downs per game, the second best mark in the PL. CB Ettian Scott also earned All-Patriot League Second Team after leading Division I FCS in pass breakups.

In his first season, Thompson helped lead the Hoyas to second in the Patriot League in scoring defense (22.5 points/game). The Hoyas held opposing offenses without a touchdown for 10 consecutive quarters from the fourth quarter of the Dayton game until the second quarter against Colgate. GU was aided by an opportunistic defensive unit that created 21 turnovers to lead the PL with a +9 turnover margin.

LB Nick Alfieri became the fourth player in program history to eclipse 300 tackles, registering 106 to finish among the league leaders. DE Alec May led the nation with 16.5 sacks, breaking the program single-season record to earn Second Team All-America accolades.

During the last two seasons, Thompson served on Head Coach Rich Ellerson’s staff at Army, as the special teams’ coordinator in 2012 and 2013. In addition to special teams’, Thompson also coached fullbacks in 2012, when Army led the nation in rushing.

At Georgetown, Thompson helped turn the program around during his six seasons serving as linebackers coach and special teams’ coordinator. Defensively, Thompson mentored the top-two tacklers in Hoyas’ history in All-American Robert McCabe and two-time team captain and No. 35 Jersey Recipient Nick Parrish. Thompson also coached 2008 graduate Stephen Smith, a captain who was the recipient of the prestigious No. 35 jersey. During his tenure, he guided the Hoyas’ special teams to six top 20 finishes in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision statistical rankings, including two top-five performances. In 2011, the Hoyas’ kickoff return unit ranked 13th in the nation with a 23.63 yards-per-return average, while the punt return team was 15th in the country at 12.44 yards per return. Thompson mentored Jeremy Moore, who finished as the leading kick-returner in GU history, to first-team All-Patriot League honors as a return specialist. Under his guidance, kicker Brett Weiss earned second-team all-conference accolades. Weiss tied for eighth in the nation with 1.45 field goals per game in 2011.

Prior to Georgetown, Thompson coached the outside linebackers at Harvard. While there, he helped the Crimson to a 10-0 record and the Ivy League championship in 2004. Harvard limited its final six opponents to 14 points or less, including two shutouts. The team gave up only one touchdown in the last three games of the season.

Thompson served as an assistant coach at Amherst College for two seasons in 2002 and 2003. His duties with the Lord Jeffs included coaching the inside linebackers and coordinating the team’s video operations.

He also spent two spent two seasons, 1999 and 2000, as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator with Holy Cross in his hometown of Worcester, Mass. Thompson began his coaching career in 1998 as the offensive line and tight ends coach at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

Thompson, a Worcester, Mass. native earned two letters in football at Assumption College, where he graduated in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs and economics. He and his wife, Kristin, have two children, Madelyn and Luke.